The document discusses the history and importance of pinyin, the romanization system for Standard Chinese. It notes that pinyin was developed in the 1950s to increase literacy in China and overcome issues with prior romanization systems. Pinyin then became the official system in 1958 and is now recognized worldwide, though it is only a tool to assist with learning characters, which remain essential to fully understand Chinese.
The document discusses the history and importance of pinyin, the romanization system for Standard Chinese. It notes that pinyin was developed in the 1950s to increase literacy in China and overcome issues with prior romanization systems. Pinyin then became the official system in 1958 and is now recognized worldwide, though it is only a tool to assist with learning characters, which remain essential to fully understand Chinese.
The document discusses the history and importance of pinyin, the romanization system for Standard Chinese. It notes that pinyin was developed in the 1950s to increase literacy in China and overcome issues with prior romanization systems. Pinyin then became the official system in 1958 and is now recognized worldwide, though it is only a tool to assist with learning characters, which remain essential to fully understand Chinese.
The document discusses the history and importance of pinyin, the romanization system for Standard Chinese. It notes that pinyin was developed in the 1950s to increase literacy in China and overcome issues with prior romanization systems. Pinyin then became the official system in 1958 and is now recognized worldwide, though it is only a tool to assist with learning characters, which remain essential to fully understand Chinese.
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PINYIN
Pinyin: An Integral Part of Learning Chinese
The Chinese language has a long history—the earliest known origins date back 6,000 years.
In fact, archaeologists have uncovered written
Chinese script from as early as the late Shang Dynasty (1600 - 1046 BCE). That means the Chinese character system is at least 3,000 years old.
But Chinese characters are notoriously difficult
to learn, even for native speakers. Chinese Pinyin, the official romanization system for Standard Chinese in mainland China, is the most commonly used phonetic system for writing Mandarin using the Latin alphabet. Chinese Pinyin is the official romanization system for Standard Chinese in mainland China, is the most commonly used phonetic system for writing Mandarin using the Latin alphabet. Chinese is tough, but learning pinyin early in one's Chinese studies dramatically accelerates the speed at which a typical student acquires the language.
A Brief History of Pinyin
When did scholars first transcribe Chinese
using Western alphabets?
In 1605, the Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci
published the first known Chinese-to-Western text, titled Xizi Qiji. This system used the Roman alphabet to transcribe the Chinese language. Competing Written Systems Fast-forward to the early 20th century and you’ll find several competing romanization systems for Mandarin: Wade-Giles, Chinese Postal Map Romanization (which infamously gave us Peking for Beijing), and Gwoyeu Romatzyh.
Each of these systems came with its share of
problems, however. Due to continuing dissatisfaction with existing romanization methods, scholars continued to search for a better solution. In the 1930s, the Chinese Communist Party, in conjunction with leadership from the USSR, introduced a phonetic alphabet using Roman letters called Sin Wenz, meaning "new writing." The goal was to improve literacy in the Russian Far East, namely for Chinese immigrants. Sin Wenz reached its peak popularity in the 1940s. Enter Zhou Youguang In the 1950s, a group of Chinese linguists began work on a new romanization system in order to increase literacy. Soon, linguist and sinologist Zhou Youguang produced a major breakthrough: Hanyu Pinyin ( 汉语拼音 ).
Many people consider Zhou to be "the father of pinyin," but he
humbly stated:
"I’m not the father of pinyin, I’m the son of pinyin. It’s [the result of] a long tradition from the later years of the Qing dynasty down to today. But we restudied the problem and revisited it and made it more perfect."
In other words, Zhou felt that his written system was simply the product of centuries of transliterating Chinese into romanized spelling. I Pinyin Becomes Official
On February 11, 1958, pinyin officially replaced all other
romanization methods in China.
It took time for the new system to catch on overseas, however.
In fact, the Los Angeles Times waited until March 2, 1979 to adopt and introduce its readers to Zhou's method of writing.
" the Times told its audience, would henceforth be "Beijing,"
while "Canton becomes Guangzhou and Tientsin becomes Tianjin."
Fortunately, the Western world has steadily adopted pinyin
over the past 70-plus years. Today, it is recognized by China, Taiwan, Singapore, the United States, and the United Nations as the official system of romanization for the Chinese language. Pinyin in Modern Times Students of the Chinese language often believe that only non- native speakers use pinyin. In fact, however, native Chinese students also learn the system alongside Chinese characters starting in kindergarten.
Though pinyin disappears from textbooks after primary school, it
is still useful for learning the pronunciation and tones of new characters. In addition, native Chinese speakers use pinyin on a daily basis when typing on computers or mobile phones.
Learning pinyin early in your Chinese studies helps establish a
solid foundation with the language and will help you learn new words. However, remember that this system is merely a tool to assist in the Chinese learning process. Can I Just Learn Pinyin and Not Chinese Characters?
Many students wonder if they can simply learn pinyin and avoid Chinese characters altogether. This is extremely inadvisable!
There are many reasons why learning characters alongside pinyin is
essential. Most crucially, nearly every pinyin sound has multiple commonly used Chinese characters that it represents.
For example, take the pinyin sound “guo.” This phonetic combination can mean fruit ( 果 guǒ), country ( 国 guó), to cross [a road] ( 过 guò, as in 过马 路 guò mǎlù), cooking pot ( 锅 ), and a variety of other words. "Guo" is even one of the 100 most common Chinese family names ( 郭 Guō).
As you advance in your studies, trying to remember these different words as
a single pinyin combination becomes inefficient and unnecessarily difficult. Learning Chinese characters allows you to more easily associate meaning with pronunciation. Pinyin is the Rosetta Stone of the Chinese Language
Chinese characters are beautiful, intriguing, and
meaningful. They are living pieces of Chinese history deeply embedded in Chinese culture. Characters make learning Chinese feel exciting and adventurous as you uncover the "hidden meaning" behind radicals, characters, and phrases.
Pinyin is the Rosetta Stone to unlocking this wonderful
universe. Therefore, if you do decide to set your focus on learning Chinese, it's critical to understand both the importance and limitations of pinyin, as well as the cultural significance and history of Chinese characters.
